Aug

16

Word Of The Week: August 16th, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 16, 2008 |

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There used to be a woman from Ireland in the office where I work, and not only was she an extremely friendly, funny person but she also managed to expand my vocabulary. One of my favorite words of hers was gormless. Whenever she’d have to deal with some idiot on the phone she’d hang up and say something like, “They were completely gormless!” From the context I knew it meant “stupid”. The Oxford English Dictionary, in its usual dull way, defines it, “Wanting sense, or discernment.” Colloquially most of us would probably say “clueless”, but I think gormless is a much funnier word. At one point I asked her about the word and asked if anyone were ever described as “having gorm”. I hope she didn’t think I was making fun of her. When I learn a new word I’m like a kid with a new toy: within about ten minutes I have to break it. And the suffix “-less”, meaning “without” always inspires silly thoughts. When I hear someone described as “ruthless” I wonder, “Is anyone ever described as being full of ruth?” As I mentioned “clueless” would be a synonym for “gormless”, as would “brainless”, but “clue” and “brain” are words that pretty commonly stand on their own. Unfortunately “gorm” isn’t used on its own. Obviously it would mean “intelligence” or “wisdom”, and those things are too rare.


Comments

5 Comments so far

  1. Morgan on August 16, 2008 5:08 pm

    Ooooo!!! I LOVE that word!
    I’ve heard it before, too, and also thought it meant stupid. Now I can use it properly.
    I had such an English feel to it and it will be fun to throw around with other similar descriptives, like “brilliant,” “wicked” and “ridiculous.” I use all three liberally.

  2. Morgan on August 16, 2008 6:23 pm

    Oh, and feckless comes to mind because I was just going through my kitchen pantry and discovered I’m completely out of Feck.

  3. Christopher on August 17, 2008 10:16 am

    Being feckless seems rather reckless. So while you’re getting some more feck get some reck as well.

  4. Morgan on August 17, 2008 10:43 am

    I’ve put both feck and reck on my list. And hap.

  5. Christopher on August 18, 2008 6:21 pm

    Always good to have some hap on hand, even though Hardy made it sound like such a bad thing. He forgot that you can’t have “happiness” without it.

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